Pathway

It's a fun time but it does get repetitive if you play for too long. The story is inspired by the Indiana Jones movies as people have said, but I would add that it's basically a 1:1 copy in some parts. It borrows so much that it becomes boring and more originality and creativity would have been welcome. There is a large macro map you move your jeep to different points on to progress towards the main mission objective. Each point has an event that occurs. The events pretty much all boil down to combat, just with different starting conditions determining your initial move options. The combat itself is pretty standard moving around on a grid performing different attacks or actions. Jeep fuel and certain types of resources are limited, so you have to manage everything. The characters, graphics, and atmosphere are charming. There is a good variety of characters. I ended up wishing the enemies and map events had more variety. There was noticeable repetition there. As a casual player it was challenging and I had to repeat a couple maps. It's worth playing through at least once, but to me the limited story and basic combat aren't compelling enough for more than that. If you aren't as interested in story content, or just more of a fan of combat based games or rogue like games in general you might get more out it.

Most other reviewers already commended the game for its quality, rightfully so. I will only add the design oddities which make the game look under polished: - the weapons are not just different, they are also unequal. Pistols are the strongest ranged weapon in the game, with the largest clip and double shot option, sniper rifles are the weakest with the worst damage, with overwatch being a useless skill (due to limited cone of watch and triggering off dogs, when you do not plan for it) - light armour is pointless - randomness of the map generation can easily make the extended quests (think Adventure II) a massive pain - chance to hit is oddly calculated, shooting around the corner does not always confer a 100% hit - AI is unpredictable, sometimes enemies just run away instead of going for the kill - the game is oddly slow at times, at the end of every battle, the control will go to the next character instead of immediately showing the battle end screen Hopefully with a few new balance updates it will become better.

Pathway caught my attention. Indy Jones Adventure? Check! Roguelike? Check! Turn-based XCOM combat? Check! So, all components add to a nice stew. Not too complex to learn. A bit of luck blended in and picking the right group (start with two Characters, later up to four) can make a difference. Is it repetitive? Well, a little, as it is a roguelike. I do enjoy the gorgeous Pixelart, though I would have preferred the option to turn the Map across all four axis to better gauge the routes. I think the combat is nice, but I lack the overwatch ability for all characters (only snipers can do overwatch, as it seems). As you are outgunned most of the time you will quickly end up praying for camp sites, medicine and bandages, assuming you have a character who is a medic. The most challenging is foraging fuel, luckily some trade camps and random encounters give you fuel. I have cleared chapter one in my fourth attempt (using the adventurer and the doc/engineer lady). My adventurer died 3 tiles before the goal (don't forget to equip bandages) and I was apparently extremely lucky to get a German Shepard attack dog on the 2nd last tile, with which I could clear the map. Quite enjoyable final fight to free my buddy, then chapter one was cleared. I look forward to replay and start new chapters as well. Recommended!

The version available at GOG.com is 1.0.3, which suffers from a bug that will completely prevent you from starting it up if you are running Linux with an Intel HD graphics card. This bug has been resolved in version 1.0.4, as reported by users over at Steam (which is supposedly at version 1.0.6 already). The downloadable version here has not been updated in at least 24 hours, and my weekend of fun playing this game has been a weekend of walking the dogs. Can't say I'm very happy.

Many may not remember the almost sensational Indy Stories and Yoda Stories games from the late nineties, but this game certainly does. Unlike those titles where you're heavily exploring and interacting with items, Pathway players will lead their party through the world as they encounter compartmentalized and randomized events and locations. You won't really actually explore the locations, just engage in combat in some and choose your actions at others. Each "world" map will present longer and more difficult adventures, sometimes across multiple world maps, with a rotating group of surviving adventurers. It can be frustrating to get far along through one of the world maps, only to be wiped or run out of fuel, but it's a challenge that isn't unfair. You can run any adventure as many times as you like, and running the first couple adventures can help you upgrade your adventurers and equipment. Unlocking new adventurers, however, seemed like it was a bit gated behind some grinding, depending on who you'd like to unlock. I feel like a slightly expanded and more accessible roster of adventurers and larger pool of equipment could have helped keep the game fresher longer. This game feels like it would be more fun to play on tablet for short periods. A fun, light game that I would gladly install with other lo-fi classics on a portable (preferably hand-held) system.